after recognizing myself and ranking member deutsche for five minutes, as soon as he shows up, each for opening statements, i will then recognize other members seeking recognition for one minute. we will then hear from our witness and without objection, mr. ambassador, members may have five days in which to insert statements for the record subject to the length limitation and rules. the subcommittee invited the department of defense to send an official to testify before us this afternoon built dod stated that they were unable to participate at this hearing. and declined to come. but we got the better of the deal because we have you, mr. ambassador. the chair now recognizes herself for five

minutes. on september 10th of last year, president obama announced to the american public his plan to degrade and destroy the terrorist group isil. while making his case for america's role in the fight against isil, he highlighted our strategy in yemen and held it up as a model for success to be emulated in the fight against isil. yet, a week later, the iran backed militia seize the the government. they continued to hail our counter terror operations in yemen as a model for success even though we effectively had no partner on the ground since president hadi was forced to flee. but more astonishingly and what can described as larmingly tone deaf and shortsighted, when press secretary earnest was asked at

a press briefing if this model was still successful after the yemeni central government collapsed and the u.s. withdrew all of our personnel including our special forces, he said, yes, despite all indications pointing to the contrary. so where do we stand now? that's the important question. president obama hadi was forced to flee. saudi arabia led a coalition of over ten arab operations and operation decisive storm which consisted of air strikes only but very well could include ground forces in the near future. iran feels embolden in yemen because of the leverage they gained over the administration through the nuclear negotiations. but i commend the gulf countries, the gcc countries for taking a strong stance against iran and stepping up to the plate in yemen. despite their action, they actually control more territory now than they did before the saudi response. our

embassy is closed. our personnel are evacuated and there's no hadi government to speak of. and al qaeda and arabian peninsula has taken advantage of the fighting and has capitalized on the deteriorating situation in yemen and we have very little visibility into the movements or their actions. i'm concerned that the aqap has gained ground in eastern yemen and has been left virtually unchecked to recruit and train. let's not forget that it was aqap that was responsible for the pair ace tacks earlier this year. or that it was al qaeda and the arabian peninsula that was responsible for overtaking a prison last month and releasing several hundreds of prisoners including a senior operative of al qaeda. aqap's leader is a follower of bin laden and like

bin laden, also seeks to strike western targets including right here in our homeland in the united states. iran has reportedly dispatched a naval destroyer near yemen in a game of chicken over one of the most important shipping routes in the gulf of aiden. this area is a gateway between europe and the middle east and iran yaz not be allowed to escalate any tensions nor attempt to disrupt the shipping lanes. yet, we continue to see the administration make the same mistakes it made in syria. and just like in syria, today yemen is an utter chaos in large part due to iran's antagonism and meddling. but we must learn our lesson from syria and engage in the yemeni crisis head on with a comprehensive strategy before it spirals further out of control. there will be no political solution in yemen based on the gcc initiative or

restarting the national dialogue conference that collapsed in early 2014 without addressing the underlying issues. they were reluctant participants in the national dialogue in yemen but it was clear that they had no interest in seeding power over to a centralized government. as a result, they withdrew from the national dialogue. it collapsed and they took control over sana and now other areas. so why would the administration think that the circumstances have changed that would allow for reconciliation to occur? it is naive and dangerous to believe that a political solution is achievable as long as the hoojys are unwilling to see their power and as long as iran continues its support for the fighters just like it is naive and dangerous to believe that a political solution in syria is achievable as long as assad remains in power. even more absurd is the fact that iran, just this morning, has

allegedly proposed a peace plan for yemen. this is the same iran that continues to use its terrorism tentacles throughout the region to undermine u.s. interests and by supplying arms and fighters aimed to further destabilize its neighboring countries. so today we hope to hear from the administration that we have a comprehensive plan on how to get to a political solution rather than just supporting a reconciliation process while also addressing the current gap in our intelligenceand counter terror capabilities in yemen as well as the deteriorating humanitarian situation. because if we act in yemen in the same way we have acted in syria, then we are likely going to see the same crisis follow in yemen. a war with no end in sight, the rise of dangerous terror groups, a dire humanitarian crisis, and iran's increased power grab in the region. and with that, i will

go to mr. connolly for perhaps one minute because when mr. deutsche comes he'll give his five minutes. mr. connolly is recognized. >> thank you, madam chairman, thank you for having the hearing. in listening to the resuscitation just now of what happened in yemen and what happened in syria, one would, i guess, iner if or one is meant to iner if that it's all the problem and result of policies pursued or not pursued by president obama and his administration. nothing could be further from the truth. the inherent instability in yemen is not new. and it certainly is not unique to the administration currently in power. yemen is inherently unstable. it has multiple militia forces and jihadist forces at work. towns have been taken and retain and transferred. terrorism and brutality have occurred. and we may very well, there are our movements to bifurcate the

country as it once was. the instability in the region is not the fault or responsibility of any administration. our question really has to be how do we respond when there are no good options? how do we do the least harm? how do we try however indirectly to effect outcomes positively? i don't think it is very helpful. >> thank you, madam chair for holding this hearing. i want to say at the outset i have an honor flight coming in shortly. i have somebody from bangladesh here. i was clair of this

committeehair of this committee a while back. i went to yemen and mr. connolly is right, there have been problems there for years. but i would argue that they certainly have gotten worse under the administration and you know, it was this administration that claimed that yemen was a success story and clearly it has been anything but that. when we were on our way over there, there was an -- a terrorist attack on a graduation at the military barracks and over 100 new soldiers were murdered by terrorists. so it's been going on for a while. but the problems in yemen are just incredible. i think the thing that is particularly disturbing is the iranian involvement there and around the region. it's four or five capitals now in the region that are controlled by the iranians. so it's a very dangerous situation. i look forward to the testimony. i won't be here. i'll certainly review that testimony. thank you for being here, mr.

ambassador. >> thank you. good luck with that honor flight. it is always very emotional. we'll recognize mr. deutsche after the minutes with his consent. we'll go to mr. higgins of new york. >> thank you, madam chair for holding this important hearing. you know, another trouble spot in a region that is -- that has pervasive trouble. there are no good options here for the united states. obviously, we have a great interest in trying to influence stabilization in that region. so i'm very curious to hear the thoughts of our distinguished panelists today. additionally, it was announced that the u.n. security council imposed an arms embargo on the hoothie fighters. and that resolution which is legally binlding pro hiblts the sale of weapons to three named hoothie leaders, former president and its son. i'm curious as to what if any impact that resolution will have relative to the die namic

that is going on in gem enright now. thank you very much for being here. >> thank you, sir. excellent question. mr. wilson of south carolina. >> thank you, madam chair. thank you for your leadership on this issue. ambassador, i just can't imagine a more extraordinary time for you to be serving as the deputy assistant secretary for the bureau of near eastern affairs. and, hey, i want you to succeed. but i am obviously very concerned about the evacuation what this means for the security of the united states and our allies. obviously i'm concerned about libya. the murders of benghazi with the rise of isil, failure to have a status forced agreement with iraq which leads to the destabilization of iraq. the regime in iran which has an ideology of death to america doej israel. that is their plan. and as they move ahead with the nuclear capability, also building missiles to include an

icbm which can only be interpreted as a threat to the american people in american families and then finally, of course, very concerned about chaos and civil war in syria the purported red line of the president which simply did not have any life and credibility. but, hey, i still want you to succeed. i look forward to working with chairwoman for your success. thank you. >> thank you, mr. wilson. >> thank you, madam chairman and ranking member deutsche for holding this very timely hearing. thank you, mr. ambassador, for being here today. i think it's safe to say that quick deterioration of the situation in yemen took many people here in washington by surprise for many years. yemen was held up as an example of counter-terrorism cooperation and it looked as if a political agreement might be achieved in the aftermath of the arab spring. the united states port approximately since the trance in addition 2011 to support counter-terrorism,

political reconciliation, the economy, and humanitarian aid. now we face a vastly different landscape and have to revise our assumptions and expectations. furthermore, we risk being drawn into another iranian backed armed con fwlikt in the middle east. i like to hear from the witness how we might have better detect detected the on coming rebellion and what would have been done to prevent it. what the u.s. role is and the conflict between the parties in yemen and how we're cooperating with regional partners and what the prospect are for a solution to this conflict. i'm also very concerned with the plight of the civilians, one of the poorest countries in the world and chaos disrupt an fragile economy and provide access to food, water and medical care and like to hear from you and what we're doing to alleviate the humanitarian situation. i thank you very much and look forward to your testimony. i yield back. >> excellent questions. thank you. doctor does not need to address the panel now. so we'll

go to miss manningg of new york. >> thank you, chair and ranking member for assembling this hearing and our distinguished ambassador for joining us here today. on january 21st, a fragile power sharing deal with the elected group in yemen fell apart and the hoothies began seizing control of yemen. the actions were troubling because of the hoothie's power an immediate dissolve of the yemeni parliament. besides the complete disregard for a democratic principles, the hoothies have close ties to iran which is seeking to expand the influence in the middle east. on march 26th, saudi arabia and more than 10 arab partners began arab strikes to weaken the strong hold and reinstate president hadi to the presidency. while i'm supportive of arab solidarity and intervention here, i'm

deeply concerned about the possibility of a large humanitarian crisis in yemen and look forward to delving into these issues this afternoon. i yield back. >> thank you. miss frankel of florida. >> thank you, madam chair. mr. ambassador, thank you for being here. >> well, we've heard some of our -- my colleagues here describe iran's support for the hoothie forces as another iranian takeover in the region. and so i'm going to be -- i'm interested in your assessment of that. given that they've been seeking recourse for decades now with strong ties to the former regime. i hope can you put iran's involvement in yes, ma'amen in this broad -- yemen in this broader context if you would. i would just add to the question is what extent is iran

controlling events in yemen? is it more than funding supplies, weapons, or are there iranian forces actually directing action in the country as we've seen in syria and iraq? >> we were all the warmup group for our lead. >> thank you for calling today's hearing and allowing us to address the recent troubling events in yemen. welcome back. following the deposition of the long time roll in 2011, the u.s. supported inclusive transition process via national dialogue aimed at rebuilding

the country's political and governmental institutions and bridging gaps that between groups that have had a long history of conflict. yemen's first newly elected leader president hadi made clear his intentions to cooperate closely with the united states. hadi's government is a partner in counter terrorism cooperation and operations. yemen, the poorest country on the peninsula, needed support from the international community. the united states has long viewed yemen for al qaeda terrorists and potential for recruitment by groups given the dire economic conditions they faced. in fact, u.s. department of homeland security considers this the affiliate most likely the al qaeda affiliate most likely to attempt transnational attacks against the united states. and while the national dialogue was initially viewed as successful, the process concludedconclude ed in 2014 with several key reform not completed. the government continued to face deep opposition for yemen's northern tribes mainly the shiite iranian backed rebels over the

past year. in coordination with tribes and military units still loyal began increasing the territorial control eventually moving in to sanam. they were long thought to use the existing relationship to undermine the hadi government. they're well trained, well funded and experience fighters having fought the yemeni government and saudi arabia in 2009. now much is written by experts and analysts about how deep iran's connection goes. some argue it's overblown and that while they welcome iranian support, they're not an iranian proxy as hezbollah is. others suggest the united states has not in the past recognized how deep the level of support provided by iran is or what iran's real motives are in supporting the hoothies. perhaps the fullest extent of the involvement remains unknown. as secretary kerry said last week, there are obviously supplies coming from iran, he said. there are a number of flights every single week that have been flying in. we trace those flights and we know this. we're well aware of

the support that eye rain is giving to yemen and iran needs to recognize that united states is not going to stand by while the region is detablized or while people engage in overt warfare across lines. the most troubling question i think to scam continue to day is whether the conflict in yemen has become a symptom of the larger power strug until the gulf. the saudi led military intervention is now in the third week. the u.s. has been providing resources and support to our regional partners engaged on the ground. i would point out this is yet another example of why we must act in the closest of security cooperation with our gulf friends to koirnlt all of iran's destabilizing activities in the region. i was pleased to see reports this morning indicating the united states has step up our support inspecting ships bound for yemen in search of arms. similarly, to day's 14-0 vote by the security council to impose an arms embargo is a welcomed step and a needed show of unity from the international community. iran is in turn

responding setting a flotilla to the gulf of aiden. last week on social media, iran's supreme leader attacked saudi arabia and the defense minister tweeting the youths have taken over the affairs of the state and are replacing dignity with bar bare ti. as members of congress, we are often asked by our constituents why the u.s. should be involved and what goes on in the middle east. they tell us years of conflict will not be solved by u.s. intervention. yes, ma'am sen a clear example of what is in our national interest. question not allow groups like al qaeda which try to attack the united states in 2009 and 2011 and in 2012 to take advantage of chaos in yemen. we need the yemeni government that is going to be a partner in our counter-terrorism and regional security efforts. finally, the people of yemen have suffered long -- have long suffered under dire economic conditions. the population is more than quadrupled in the past 30 years. conflict is only making humanitarian situation worse.

saudi arabia is delivering medical and humanitarian supplies but it is necessary for the international community to continue to support the people of yemen. we have seen all too well how quickly the humanitarian crisis can slip from the front pages of our papers. ambassador firestein thank you for being here. given that the u.s. personnel has been evacuated, we look to you to tell us where u.s. policy toward yemen currently stands. will we continue to see increased level of involvement in the saudi led intervention? how can the security council resolutions pertaining be enforced and can there be a military solution to yemen's internal crisis? we look forward to your responses. appreciate you being here and i yield back. >> thank you very much, mr. deutsche. excellent statement. and we're so pleased to welcome ambassador gerald firestein, the principle deputy assistant secretary of the bureau of near eastern affairs. previously, he served as our ambassador to yemen from 2010 to 2013. so he knows this area very

well. he has served in several different postings throughout the middle east including as deputy chief of missions in islamabad and deputy council general in jerusalem. thank you for your service, mr. ambassador. we look forward to your testimony. and may i point out your lovely fiancee sitting behind you. welcome. does she know the hours that you put in every day in your job? she might want to reconsider. mr. ambassador? you're on. >> thank you so much, madam chairman. madam chairman, ranking member deutsche, members of the committee, i greatly appreciate this opportunity to come before you today and review recent developments in yemen and the efforts that the united states is undertaking to support the government of yemen under president hadi and the saudi led coalition of operation decisive storm. that is aimed at restoring the legitimate government and

restarting the negotiations to find peaceful, political solutions to yemen's internal conflict. during the week of april 4th to 11th, i travelled with the secretary of state to saudi arabia and oman. as part of the consultations, we met with president hadi and members of his team. the saudi ministers of foreign affairs defense and interior, the minister of foreign affairs as well as other senior officials and the ministries of more than affairs and defense and the omany minister of state for foreign affairs and his deputy. in all of these engagements, we found a broad degree of consistency and to bring decisive storm to a rapid and successful conclusion. to establish that no party to the internal conflict in yemen will be able to achieve its objectives through violence and coercion and to set the framework for a return to negotiations leading to a clear, verifiable commitment on the part of all parties to the conflict to implement

agreements and complete the political transition on the basis of the gcc initiative, the conclusions of the national dialogue conference and applicable u.n. security council resolutions. there is also a broad agreement among the leadership and yemen's neighbors that yemen should not be allowed to become a low customer for foreign intervention that destabilizes yemen or threatens the security and stability of yemen's neighbors and the region at large. madam chairman, as you know, a conflict in yes, ma'am sen enormously complicated and has roots that are largely per oakal and locally focused. yemen, the poorest country in the world with a long history

of weak central governance as for many years struggled to meet the needs of the diverse constituencies and address their grievances. the failures of governance led to the fall of the previous regime in 2011. reflecting significant engagement by the united states and international community, the gcc initiative was put in place to help yemen transition to a new more inclusive government that will be responsive to the needs and aspirations of all yemen's communities. the tragedy of the current situation is at the political process that they established in 2011 was achieving success and we and they had reason to believe that it would lead to a more open, democratic and prosperous nation that was the goal of the yemeni people. regrettably that, transition has been sidetracked by the movement aided and abetted by asal and his allies who decided they would seek to achieve by force what they are had been unable to accomplish of the negotiating table. we hope it's a temporary delay. to the best of our understanding, they're not controlled directly by

iran. however, we have seen in recent years significant growth and expansion of the engagement with the hoothies. they see opportunity to expand the influence in yemen and threaten saudi and gulf arab interests. iran provides financial support, weapons, training, and intelligence to the hoothies and the weeks and months since they entered sana and force the government first to resign and ultimately to flee from the capital, we have seen a significant expansion of iran yan involvement in the dpesomestic affairs. we're particularly concerned about the on going destabilizing role play by former president sava who since his removal from power in 2011 has actively plotted to undermine president hadi and the political transition process. despite u.n. sanctions and condemnation of his

actions, he continues to be one of the primary sources of the chaos in yemen. we have been working with our gulf partners and the nant agency will community to isolate him and prevent the continuation of his efforts to undermine the peaceful transition. success in that effort will go a long way to helping yemen return to a credible political transition process. finally, the dpeeestabilizations are beneficial. the deterioration at the political situation in yemen has provided new openings for aqap to regain the ground that is lost in recent years. only to the efforts to the u.s. and yemeni governments to combat it. only through a negotiated resolution of the on going political conflict and ultimately to eliminate aqap threat to yemen, the united states, and our friends and partners aren't world. thank you again for the opportunity to appear before you this afternoon. i look forward to

answering any questions you may have about the situation in yemen and our policy responses. >> thank you so much, mr. ambassador. and you're certainly an expert in this area. and i note that it's important not to minimize iran's role in yemen or the sectarian nature of this conflict as i believe the administration seems determined to do. the administration has so far provided only limited logistical support to the saudi led coalition. we waited to give them the intelligence that they needed, for example, to know exactly where to hit. and the administration is hoping for a political solution without also having our own comprehensive strategies in the region. so we're essentially outsourcing our yemeni policy to the jcc and iran.

gcc and iran. the gulf countries. aren't we in conversations with iran about the situation in yemen? or with hoothie rebels? and what is our plan if the hoothies refuse to accept a political resolution? >> madam chairman, we believe that the iranians are well aware of our views and positions in yemen. we have been very clear in articulating that. as far as the hoothies are concerned, we have expressed an interest in establishing a dialogue with them going all the way back to frankly the time that i was still there. up until now they have declined the opportunity to engage with us directly. nevertheless, we have been able to communicate with them to

pass messages to them through various intermediaries. and again, i believe that the hoothies are fully aware of our views and the positions that we've taken on their issues going all the way back to the early years of the 21st century. >> thank you, sir. you testified that current conditions in yemen are beneficial to al qaeda and the arabian peninsula and that isil is an emerging presence in yemen. how large of a presence does isil have in yemen? what kind of pressure are we applying against them? and now that our embassy is closed, our -- all of our personnel have been evacuated, our intelligence capabilities have been severely restricted what kind of intelligence can we collect without a presence in country and what insight do we have into the various factions? >> it's a very good question. in terms of isil, it's

extremely difficult for us to have a clear applicant of the extent to which they are a factor there. as you know, they claim credit for several attacks on mosques earlier this year. this was the first time that isil has an entity emerged really in yemen. we would still consider aqap to be by far the larger and more significant threat. we have heard some yemenis and others speculate that what we're seeing is a return perhaps, of some yemeni fighters who were in syria or iraq who have come back to yemen and are now operating as isil but i think that that is something that we couldn't confirm at this point. in terms of the complications, there's no doubt that fact that we're not present in yemen at

this moment and that aren't able to maintain the level of communications and dialogue and the daily interaction that's we were able to have with yemeni counterparts while we were there and while president hadi's government was in place certainly is a -- an obstacle to our ability to continue to conduct operations. >> thank you, sir. now state and dod provided a variety of capabilities to yemeni security forces including some sensitive equipment such as night vision goggles. with the closure of the emphasisbassy and special operation forces from yemen, it's much more difficult to monitor the use of such equipment. what do we know in the u.s. government about the current status of the equipment that was previously provided to

yemen? have they fallen into the hands of hoothies, al qaeda and the arabian peninsula, isil? >> we haven't seen any direct evidence that those items of equipment that we had provided in the past have been taken by the hoothies or by other lctions elements. there is speculation in the press. we don't have independent information. >> thank you. and we've seen reports that coalition forces have he massed along the saudi-yemeni border and that some saudi forces already on the ground in yemen. do you expect to see gcc coalition ground forces in yemen? and what would egypt's role be in such an effort? what role would the united states play in such a scenario? >> based on the discussions

that we had with our counterparts in riyadh and in abu daby last week, i think at this point in time what we understand is that they don't have any current plans to actually have a ground presence inside of yemen. they are, as you said, moving forces to the border. we believe that that's a largely for defensive purposes. and they are clear that this is something that they would consider if they see the requirement. but right now we haven't seen anything. as for the egyptian role, those discussions are on going. and there have not been any commitments that we're aware of on part of egypt to participate in any ground activity. >> lastly, you testified that humanitarian situation was already dire in yemen before this crisis. and that malnutrition, bad sanitation no access to water, internal displacements, they're all

rising internal concerns. what is the u.s. doing to work with saudi and the rest of the gulf council nations to prioritize the transportation of water, essential food and fuel, humanitarian supplies like medicine and to the country and via air and sea ports? >> one of the fundamental items in deputy secretary lincoln's agenda with our partners in riyadh and abu daby was to precisely encourage them to urge them to ensure that humanitarian access to yemen was possible. i think that the latest information that we have is that the picture has improved somewhat. it remains very serious. nearly half of the population in yemen right now based on the estimate that's we've seen is

food deprived. so this is a very serious situation. we're doing a better job, i think in, getting some of the humanitarian supplies not only food but also medicines and other essential humanitarian goods to yemen. the internal distribution is extremely difficult because of the various military activities that are going on around the country so the movement has become complicated. and probably the most significant concern that we have right now is the availability of fuel which is essential not only for the movement of goods and people but also is essential in order to provide water and also bread because the bakery is run on propane gas. without propane, they can't bake their

bread. so this is having ripple effects throughout the economy and making the humanitarian situation that much more serious. >> thank you again for your service, sir. mr. deutsche of florida, the ranking member is recognized. >> thank you, madam chairman. you mentioned you just got back from the region. you don't see -- think the saudis see this campaign as an open ended one. do you think there is a military solution? you said that they don't have plans to launch a ground war. do you envision the situation in which saudi or coalition ground troops would go in? >> under the current set of circumstances, no. they are looking at various scenarios. but they've been very clear

with us that that's not where they want to go. and the history in yemen is not favorable for more than ground forces. i think that saudis are well aware of that. i do believe and based on the conversation that's we have, the saudis do not believe that there's a military solution to this conflict. they understand as we do that ultimately the only solution is to bring the parties back to the negotiating table and their intent is to try to demonstrate through the current military activities that a military solution on the part of the hoothis is not achievable. and, therefore, they need to return to negotiations. >> there was -- there were two -- so far anyway, two stories with respect to iran in yemen that have arisen today. one reports that iran may be trying to censor air missiles

to the hoothies and the united states is stepping up our inspections for ships bound for yemen. first on that one, can we expect to see greater u.s. involvement as the conflict drags on? >> i think that at this particular moment our intent is trying to support the saudi coalition and our partners. and so what we're doing is aimed at empowering, facilitating and enhancing their capacity to take on this mission. and in the situation of the shipping, we will be taking very careful look at and examining very closely efforts to violate the embargo. of course, we had the arms embargo passed to day by the u.n. security council. but we also have long standing arms embargo on iran and any

effort on the part of the iranian's to export weapons is a violation of other u.n. security council resolutions. we'll be looking at ways to make sure that embargo is enforced. >> and iran allegedly released some draft of the peace plan today. can you comment on that? >> well, i think the comment that we have on that is it's ironic that the iranians have put forward a peace plan that encompasses the four points that we were actually trying to implement whether with iranian encourageme in. t, blocked the negotiations and created the humanitarian crisis that we're confronting today. and so i think from our perspective, if they're serious about their peace plan in the first instance, they should stop sending weapons to the hoothies and they should also give their advice to them that they should

be returning to the peace talks and the negotiating table. >> that would be sound advice. has this become -- or does a risk becoming a proxy war between regional influence between the saudis and iranians? >> i think from our perspective, i would say that yemen is a unique situation for the saudis. that this is on their board border. it represents a threat in a way that no other situation would represent. and while, of course, there is concern in the gulf and we heard from our partners in the gulf about the situation in syria and iraq and also the concerns about developments in lebanon, i think our sense is that the

perception of the situation in yemen is different and more threatening. >> and, again, my last question. what do we make of the iranian flew flotilla that has moved in? >> again, we've been tracking it. the iranians claim that they're only there as part of the larger international effort to prevent piracy and been in the red sea. we'll be keeping a careful eye on it. we also have significant forces in the area and we'll be tracking. >> thank you. >> thanks. >> i just want to help. they're just misunderstood. thank you mr. deutsche. mr. wilson of south carolina. >> again, thank you, mr. secretary. and i appreciate you and i have something in common in that i have two sons who served in iraq. one is a physician and another is field artillery and i know

that you've had a son serve there. and then with your background, what a distinguished background. as i stated from the beginning i'm just so hopeful for your success. i believe, sadly, that as a safe havens are created throughout that region and into central asia and north africa that the american people are at risk. and so we want you to succeed. and with that in mind, and you referenced it a minute ago, and that is that what impact do you believe that administration's nuclear negotiations with the regime in tehran have had with the support of the iranian government to be provided to the hoothies? >> thank you very much congressman wilson for your kind words. in terms of the relationship or any correlation between the nuclear talks and the situation in yemen or more broadly in the region, i think that our

perspective is that -- is that what we have achieved by establishing the framework for an agreement that, of course we hope is completed by the end of june that this is something that will contribute to regional security and stability. and that -- and that certainly one of the things that we discussed with our friends in the region and i think that president obama when he meets with the gcc leaders in summit in a few weeks will also make clear that despite the negotiations on the nuclear account and despite what we hope is an agreement to block any further iranian effort to acquire nuclear weapon nevertheless the other concerns that we have about nuclear --

about iranian activities including in areas like yes, ma'am ven not changed and we will continue to pursue aggressively a program of confronting and challenging any iranian efforts to destabilize the region. >> and i see actually a direct relationship of the negotiations and what's going on in yemen. and that is untruthfulness. the iranian regime indicated that they have no presence, no support, no interest whatever and that is correctly pointed out and the ships appeare coast. but with proven untruthfulness, i just can't imagine that we would be placing faith in regard to their now -- or denial of developing capability while they're building a missile system. they merit very close

observation and i don't think that it's the intent of the administration to place any faith whatsoever in what the iranians say. the important thing is to establish a very tight system of verification that would enable us to see if in fact the iranians are cheating or otherwise violating the terms of any agreement that we might reach. so i don't think there's any trust or faith involved in this. >> well, i appreciate your concern there. and what impact do you believe that the depletion of yemen's oil reserves as far as 2017 will have on the hoothie relationship in the region? >> i think more broadly, of course, one of the issues and one of the things that we as

united states we're working on along with our international partners was the effort to try to provide yemen with a foundation for economic development. we recognize that it's the failure of the government to provide for its people, the failure to provide any kind of economic horizon or any optimism for the future is feeding into these issues not only with the hoothies but with aqap and other violent extremist organizations. and so one of the things as we go forward not only to try to resolve some of the outstanding political issues, but also to work on these economic issues and to provide for future. having spent three years in yemen, i can say that i was always optimistic that given an opportunity yemen could

actually develop and provide for its people economically. unfortunately, the political situation and security situation have undermind their ability and our ability to really build that kind of a future. >> well, i appreciate your service there. i know it must be very distressing to you to see the current conditions. but your service means a lot to the american people. thank you. i yield back. >> thank you, mr. wilson. thank you to your family for valuable contribution of keeping our homeland safe, thank you. >> thank you, madam chairman. thank you, mr. ambassador. first i'd like to ask you as much as you can share in open setting, will you speak to how the current current conflict has impacted our counter terrorism efforts within yemen? you mentioned in your opening remarks that aqap is taking advantage of this opportunity and my question is do we have in place alternative counter

terrorism plan that will continue to disrupt aqap and isis operations, what's the relationship of these three groups on the ground, are they coordinating during this period of unrest, how are we protecting american security interests? >> it is a challenge. and certainly in the efforts that we have been making over the past several years with the support of president hadi and his government, a lot of our cooperation or a lot of our effort was dependent on cooperation that we are receiving from the yemenese. that enabled and expanded our ability to act effectively against violent extremist organizations. that of course both because we're not physically present in yemen now and because of the overall

collapse of the government of yemen, that kind of cooperation is no longer viable, at least for the moment. what we are trying to do, of course, to the extent possible, we will continue to use our own independent means to gather intelligence and to try to understand what's happening in yemen. it is not as effective or efficient as it would otherwise be. so our effort is really, you know, part of a return to a political negotiation and hopefully the restoration of a legitimate government in sanaa to be able to resume the kind of cooperation we had earlier on. in terms of the interactions of the various extremist organizations, very difficult to say. we really don't have much of an understanding of

isil or what their relationships are, who they are. it is possible, of course that they're simply people using that name because they believe it adds a certain amount of veracity to what they're trying to do. in the absence of any presence on the ground, ability to really collect intelligence, it is difficult to say. >> and in light of the current situation in yemen, are there any changes that need to be made to the administration's fy '16 request for yemen to reflect these realities or reflect adjustment in the policy goals for yemen? >> it is something that we are looking at, and i think that we will adjust. i mean obviously our hope would be that if we can get the situation stabilized and get the political process going again, that we would be able to return and that we would be able to

continue i am plenting the kinds of programs we were trying to achieve that were aimed at economic growth and development as well as supporting democratic governance, and the opportunity to try to build solid political foundations for the society. at this particular moment we can't do that, but it is hard to predict where we might be in six months or nine months from now. >> thank you. and my final question, the united nations reports that yemen relies on imports for 90% of staple food. we can surmise as a result of the conflict that there will be disruption in that, and obviously the world food program reports that 10 million people, 42.5% of the population were already unable to meet their food needs. what are we doing to be sure food gets to the right places, that transportation is permitted, that medicine is getting in, and are we tracking it, do we

have some oversight to be sure it is getting to the people who need it because this has all the makings of a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. >> yes, sir. again one, of course the united states is and has been traditionally the largest donor to world food program, unicef and other international organizations that are providing humanitarian relief to the yemeni people will continue to do that. there has not been any interruption to support for humanitarian assistance. secretary lincoln during his visit to riyadh had at the top of the agenda encouraging our partners in the gulf to make sure they made accommodations to allow for humanitarian relief supplies to reach yemen and our understanding from what we are seeing over the last

several days is that in fact the flow of humanitarian goods into yemen improved. ships carrying wheat arrived at yemeni ports. icrc, and unicef and others have been able to get relief supplies in by both ship and plane over the last several days. so we are seeing improvements on that side. the internal distribution as you pointed out, the internal distribution remains problematic. understand that, for example truck drivers are very concerned, unwilling to move because of the fighting in the country. there are fuel shortages that complicate that and so

internally we're still seeing difficulties getting the necessary supplies to the right places. it is something that we're discussing with our partners in the humanitarian community and we'll see if we can improve it. >> thank you. i yield back. >> thank you so much, mr. cicilline. dr. yoho. >> thank you, madam chair. is it feierstein? >> feierstein. >> good, i am satisfying you both. what warning signs were present prior to the fall of the hadi government? what did we see, did we know this was coming or was this kind of out of the blue? >> the situation with the houthis has been complicated for a long period of time and we have been in a situation when we had the initial uprising, political uprising in 2011 and 2012, the houthis were

part of the opposition to the saleh regime, there was strong desire on the part of all of the political groups in yemen to see if they couldn't bring them into the political process. i think there was a broad understanding that the houthis had legitimate concerns and grievances about the way they were treated over the years, there was a hope that they could be accommodated through the negotiations and implementation of the gcc initiative in a way to make them part of the larger political fabric and that was really the main effort for a long period of time. unfortunately, low level conflict continued through that period between the houthis and some of the other elements some of the conservative sunni elements of the society, and that flared up last summer in

an area north, in the northern part of the country near the traditional houthi area. >> let me interject here. what you're saying, i think what i am hearing, the houthis didn't feel like they were involved sufficiently in the hadi government, didn't have enough input? >> they weren't technically part of the hadi government, didn't have any seats in the hadi government. they were part of the larger political process, participants in national dialogue conference and implementation of gcc initiative. >> okay, the appointment of the vice president sufficient to satisfy what they're looking for as far as representation and the other part of that question, does the appointment of mr. baha as vice president, does that weaken the hadi -- president hadi's effectiveness if he were to go back into power? >> the appointment of cal add

baja was one of the elements that resolved the first confrontation with the houthis last year when they signed an agreement and they approved the appointment as prime minister. yesterday or the day before yesterday when he was named as vice president, they objected, not because they have any concern about him. he is somebody that i think is universally respected inside yemen but because they objected to the process that led to his appointment. but we think that he is someone who is acceptable to all of the elements of society. we don't think that it would undermine the legitimacy of president hadi's government. in fact, it accomplishes something that president hadi had been encouraged to do for a

period of time. >> do you see him with the resolution of this conflict, do you see president hadi coming back and running that country? >> i think both the united states and more broadly the international community see that the legitimacy â >> see him as a legitimate president. >> what exactly the format might be that would bring him back to sanaa is negotiable. >> all right. >> if there's some other format that would be acceptable to the yemenese, it would be acceptable to us. >> we have known the iranian influence with the houthis has been there a long time. have you seen their interference in this conflict more prevalent than it has been in the past? >> yes. >> you have seen a step up. >> yes. >> do you have any feeling that there's increase of that activity due to the iranian nuclear negotiations that we are going through, have they been embolden more?

>> we believe that there are a number of factors that are feeding into iran's sense that it has the upper hand because of its engagement elsewhere in the region, because of the weakness or disarray within the sunni community, the iranians may be involved. i think our sense is that the iranian nuclear negotiations would not be a factor. >> i find it interesting that the iranians stepped up their involvement and have taken over four capitals, we see a big influence of them in venezuela. all this time when they have been under sanctions, are supposedly struggling internally, yet we see more influence. in fact, just purchased that missile defense system from russia for $800 million. doesn't look like a country that's in financial constraints or having difficulties making this presence. i think for them to

step forward, show this kind of leadership in that region certainly not the kind of leadership would i want to see i would think the influence we have with saudi arabia would be stronger. what are your thoughts on that? >> certainly i think that what we would like to do is see, you know, we have the nuclear agreement now. i think our view is that potentially that could contribute to regional security and stability. certainly the support that we are providing to saudi arabia and the saudi coalition and operation decisive storm is an important element, important opportunity for us to demonstrate to our friends in the region that despite the nuclear negotiations and framework agreement our commitment to their security and stability is not effected and that we will continue to confront and challenge iranian activity where we see it playing a negative role in the region.

>> ambassador feierstein, i appreciate your time. i yield back. >> thank you, dr. yoho. miss meng of new york. >> ambassador, i thought when the campaign started, the saudis were smart to brand this as a panarab effort. with the rising of civilian casualties, can you give us a sense of the perspective of this on the arab street today? >> it varies, and i do believe that broadly on the arab street i think there's a great deal of support for what the coalition is trying to accomplish in the sense that it is appropriate for the saudis to take a leadership position in confronting iranian malign intent. within yemen, of course, the situation is a little bit different and the

concerns about some of the civilian casualties is obviously and understandably much higher. one of the things we are trying to accomplish in providing support to the international coalition is precisely to help them avoid those kinds of civilian casualties and make sure when they're going after a particular target that they're doing everything possible to make sure there's no collateral damage. >> my last question. appears that turkey and pakistan backed off their initial support for this operation. can you speak about that and do you foresee the new found arab coalition working effectively together beyond yemen? >> i think for turkey and pakistan the issue is more complicated.

i can speak a little bit, more familiar with the situation in pakistan than in turkey. in pakistan you have of course a long border with iran, an important relationship between pakistan and iran as well as an important and long-standing relationship with saudi arabia and so for the pakistanis, this was probably a situation where they didn't see frankly that there was a good way forward for them to participate. they had been very clear in saying they would be absolutely committed to supporting saudi arabia if there were any kind of threat to saudi arabia specifically, but in the case of yemen a little bit more complicated for them and probably something that politically inside of pakistan would have been extremely difficult. >> thank you very much, miss

meng. >> mr. desantis, my colleague from florida. >> thank you, madam chairman. i think it -- this is important topic, i am going to get to this, but we just got news over the wire that the president is planning on removing cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. now, this is something that is although outrageous for us, something that i think we expected, i think it was baked in the cake but i think it is really really troubling when cuba hasn't done anything, have given no concessions, haven't done anything on behalf of their people, they're arresting more people, repressing more people since this change. they have harbored somebody on the fbi list of most wanted terrorists. nothing is being done. this is just a pure unadulterated concession with absolutely no basis or grounding in facts. and i was

happy to lead a special order on the floor last night with some of the post 9/11 veterans who are in congress and the two countries that we seem to have better relationships with now, iran and cuba. the question is what have we received in return for that, mostly it is us giving concessions to these countries and i think foreign policy based on the idea that we're going to be dancing with dictators is not a foreign policy that is going to succeed and i think it is really alienating us from a lot of our allies and tragically i think is leaving people who are fighting for freedom in places like cuba completely in the lurch. this is not the last we talk about this, i know, but it is really, really disappointing. sorry about that, ambassador. i know that's not your cup of tea, but something that we work on on this committee and i know that the chair woman especially has done it for a long time.

did the state department approve president obama's remarks in september when he announced the campaign against isis and cited yemen as a success? >> i'm not entirely sure. >> do you know -- i know there's a lot of discussion back when bush was president about approving the wmd passages. is it standard that that goes through state when president makes a major speech about foreign policy or is it just kind of state has to respond to what the white house said? i am not clear about how the process normally works. >> i think as a matter of principle it is up to the president to decide how he wants to prepare his speeches. >> once the statement was made

and yemen was cited as an example of success, were there concerns in the state department that were raised about that given the actual reality on the ground in yemen at the time? >> i would say that the record of our activities in yemen from 2011, 2012 until quite recently in terms of the effectiveness of our unilateral actions against aqap as well as the cooperation and the ability of the united states to partner effectively with counterparts in side of yemen was positive. and as a result of what we were able to accomplish together we saw a number of positive developments. in terms of

taking some leadership elements of aqap off the table and also forcing aqap to change its strategy when the political crisis came in yemen in 2011 aqap was able to take advantage of that and increase its territorial control to the extent they were actually declaring areas of the country to be an islamic caliphate, not unlike what we see with iraq and syria these days, and because of our cooperation primarily our cooperation with yemeni security forces, we were able to defeat that at significant loss of life for aqap. as a result of that, they changed their tactics, they went back to being a more traditional terrorist organization. they were able to attack

locations inside of sanaa and elsewhere, but the fact of the matter is that we were achieving progress and our ability to pleasure them and to keep them on the defensive as opposed to giving them lots of time. and remember, in 2009, in 2010 we saw aqap mount a fairly serious effort, the underwear bomber and also the cassette tape effort to attack the united states. after 2010, they were not able to do that despite the fact that their intent was still as clear and strong as it was before. so while aqap was by no means defeated and continued to be a major threat to security here in the united states as well as in yemen and elsewhere around

the world, nevertheless i think that it was legitimate to say we had achieved some success in the quite against aqap. unfortunately what we are seeing now because of the change in the situation again inside of yemen is that we are losing some of the gains we were able to make during that period of 2012 to 2014 and that's why it is so important that we have the ability to get the political negotiations started again so that we can re-establish legitimate government inside of sanaa that will cooperate with us once again in this fight against violent extremist organizations. >> great. my time is expired. i appreciate that. there was a lot there. i yield back. >> thank you, mr. desantis. i look forward to watching the video of your remarks along with our other vets last night.

congratulations. i wanted to ask an additional question so the members can as well. because of its geographic location, yemen is close, a short boat ride away from africa. very unstable. we have got -- do you worry about the -- were the movement to take place, that the houthi rebels, isil, whatever faction of terrorist organization could very well move their troops a little boat ride away and be yet in another area where they can control that land and destabilize an already troubled region? >> we certainly worried a lot about linkages between particularly the aqap in yemen and shabab in somalia. we know that shabab was sending

people to yemen to receive training. as you say quite correctly, the distances are very short. we are talking about from yemen to jebadi, maybe 20 miles by sea. so it is very close by. and it is something that would be of concern to us and again as part of our efforts against both aqap and al shabab, it is something that we were trying to monitor and defeat aggressively. >> well, i do worry about it and we have a lot of american personnel, embassies consulates, we have a presence throughout that region so that is a worry some future development perhaps.

thank you, mr. ambassador. mr. deutsch? >> one more question also. with the coalition focused as it is on the houthis, and since we lost at least for now our counter terrorism partner in the yemeni government and military, is there -- what pressure is there, to the extent there is any, on al qaeda and isis as well? >> we of course to the extent we can, it is more limited now to the extent that we can, we will continue to engage aqap unilaterally in order to try to disrupt or defeat any threats against us. when secretary was in the region, it was an issue we raised with the saudis in particular and urged them as part of their effort to go after aqap targets as

well as other targets so we can continue the pressure. >> can you tell us how that was received? >> they agree because aqap is a direct threat to their security, too. >> have we seen that happen? >> i can't say for certain, a, whether we have given any targets to go after, whether they have been effective in servicing those. >> thank you. >> thank you so much, mr. deutsch. dr. yoho. >> thank you, madam chair. just kind of a follow-up question. with the administration coming out, saying it is a success over there back in september still touting that as of march 24 or 25, how can we be that far off. you explained the counter terrorism portion, but to have a country taken over while we

are sitting there, it feels like overnight, the marines have to take the weapons with them. i don't understand how that happens, how we can be that disconnected? what are your thoughts on that? is it just denial or is it -- i don't know what it is. i am confused because before you answer, it its counter intuitive claim, says it enrages republicans, i am sure it enrages a lot of people. i am kind of baffled. >> it was very frustrating. we again, i think that if you go back to where we were a year ago successful conclusion of the national dialogue conference, which was really the last major hurdle in completion of the gcc initiative, houthis

participated in that participated in constitutional drafting exercise, which was completed successfully, and we were in the process of moving through all of the requirements of the gcc initiative that would allow us to complete successfully the political transition. i think there were a combination of things. one that there was a view on the part of the houthis that they were not getting everything they wanted. they were provoked by saleh, who never stopped plotting on the first day of the gcc initiative, never stopped trying to block the political transition, and there was to be frank, there was a weakness in the government, an inability on the part of the government to

really build the kind of alliances and coalition that would allow them to sustain popular support and to bring this to successful conclusion. so i think that all through this period there was a sense that we were moving forward and that we believed we could succeed in implementing this peaceful transition, yet always knew on the margins there were threats and risks. unfortunately we got to a point where the houthis and saleh, where they reached the last moment to interrupt the peaceful transition, it was bad for them, it would mean they wouldn't get everything they wanted, they saw that time was running out for them and decided to act and

unfortunately the government was unable to stop them. >> i appreciate it. it just concerns me extremely a lot that we are calling this a success and missed the mark, way past the mark. if we're missing this, what else are we missing in our foreign policies. can i ask one other thing? we've invested $900 million since 2011 roughly. it doesn't seem like we've gotten the bang for our buck in foreign policy. in your opinion how would you direct foreign policy in a country like yemen to where we get the results we want? >> that's a good question. what i would say, in a place like yemen we have to recognize what the limitations are in those societies and accept the fact that if we are going to make a difference, it is going to be a very long term

investment on our part. it is unfortunate that yemen has taken a turn that it has taken. i don't think that the situation is irretrievable. i think with some effort on our part, part of the rest of the international community, we can get back on track. i would hope that we would then stay with it and help the yemeni people achieve a good outcome. they're good people. they're, you know, they're people who probably deserve a lot better than they've gotten it would be good if we could be part >> i appreciate your time. >> thank you. yemen is a queckly moving terrain so we would appreciate if you could keep our subcommittee abreast of any developments. we don't have to have a formal

hearing. we could have a meeting in one of the meeting rooms. thank you for being accessible. lots of moving parts. we'd like to be abreast of every development. thank you, sir. your testimony was excellent. with that, this subcommittee ask adjourned. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption contents and accuracy. visit ncicap.org

>> she was considered modern for her time called mrs. president by her detractors and was outspoken about her views on slavery and women's rights. as one of the most prolific writers of any first lady she provides a unique window. abigail adams. sunday night. examining the public and private lives of the women who fill the position of first lady and their influence on the president shi. sundays at 8:00 p.m. eastern. as a complement to the series, c-span's new book is available, first ladies.

available as a hard cover for an e book through your favorite book store or on line book seller. >> this week on q&a, our guest is jessica stern co-author of "isis: the state of terror." she talks about the growth of the organization, its mission and methods and how it compares to other terrorist groups. there are several videos in this program that are violent and potentially offensive to some viewers. brian: your new book is called isis. why didn't you call it >> this week on q&a, our guest is jessica stern, co-author of "isis: the state of terror." she talks about the growth of the organization, its mission and methods and how it compares to other terrorist groups.

there are several videos in this program that are violent and potentially offensive to some viewers. brian: your new book is called isis. why didn't you call it isil? jessica: we could have called it isil. we thought isis sounded better and would be more familiar to people even though the president refers to the group as isil. brian: why is there a difference between the president using isil and some people using islamic state? jessica: the president doesn't want to call it the islamic state because they claim to be a state, but they are not. he does not want to give them that credit. we called it isis just for editorial, to make it easier. that's the only reason. brian: what was the reason to write the book? jessica: my editor asked me to write the book. it wasn't actually my idea. in fact, i was in the middle of writing another book that is taking me a long time. when he first asked me, i was about to say no. and then, i realized that it is a very important topic and people really need to know about it. so that's why.